of his remarks on this fubject I perfectly agree; but the illustrations he gives of them, are of too great extent to be introduced here; and I would not wish to run the risk of impairing their perfpicuity, by attempting to abridge them. I must therefore refer fuch of my readers as wish to profecute the fpeculation, to his very ingenious and philofophical treatise.

"In confequence of thefe circumftances," (fays Dr. Campbell,)" it happens that, in matters which " are perfectly familiar to us, we are able to reafon

by means of words, without examining, in every "instance, their fignification. Almost all the poffible "applications of the terms (in other words, all the "acquired relations of the figns) have become cuf

tomary to us. The confequence is, that an unusual "application of any term is inftantly detected; this "detection breeds doubt, and this doubt occafions an "immediate recourfe to ideas. The recourse of the "mind, when in any degree puzzled with the figns, "to the knowledge it has of the things fignified, is “natural, and on fuch fubjects perfectly eafy. And "of this recourse the discovery of the meaning, or. of "the unmeaningness of what is faid, is the immediate "effect. But in matters that are by no means fami "liar, or are treated in an uncommon manner, and in "fuch as are of an abftrufe and intricate nature, the "cafe is widely different." The inftances in which we are chiefly liable to be impofed on by words without meaning are, (according to Dr. Campbell,) the three following:

First, Where there is an exuberance of metaphor.

Secondly, When the terms moft frequently occur. ring, denote things which are of a complicated nature, and to which the mind is not fufficiently familiarised. Such are the words, Government, Church, State, Constitution, Polity, Power, Commerce, Legislature, Jurifdiction, Proportion, Symmetry, Elegance.

Thirdly, When the terms employed are very abftract, and confequently of very extenfive fignification *. For an illuftration of these remarks, I must refer the reader to the ingenious work which I juft now quoted.

To the observations of these eminent writers, I fhall take the liberty of adding, that we are doubly liable to the mistakes they mention, when we make use of a language which is not perfectly familiar to us. Nothing, indeed, I apprehend, can fhew more clearly the use we make of words in reasoning than this, that an observation which, when expreffed in our own language, feems trite or frivolous, often acquires the appearance of depth and originality, by being tranflated into another. For my own part, at least, I am con

*The more general any word is in its fignification, it is the "more liable to be abufed by an improper or unmeaning applica "tion. A very general term is applicable alike to a multitude of "different individuals, a particular term is applicable but to a few. "When the rightful applications of a word are extremely nume

rous, they cannot all be fo ftrongly fixed by habit, but that, "for greater fecurity, we muft perpetually recur in our minds "from the fign to the notion we have of the thing fignified; and "for the reafon aforementioned, it is in fuch inftances difficult "precifely to ascertain this notion. Thus the latitude of a word, "though different from its ambiguity, hath often a fimilar effect.'s Philofophy of Rhetoric, vol. ii. p. 122,

fcious of having been frequently led, in this way, to form an exaggerated idea of the merits of antient and of foreign authors; and it has happened to me more than once, that a fentence, which feemed at first to contain something highly ingenious and profound, when tranflated into words familiar to me, appeared obviously to be a trite or a nugatory propofition.

The effect produced by an artificial and inverted ftyle in our own language, is fimilar to what we experience when we read a compofition in a foreign one. The eye is too much dazzled to fee diftinctly. "Aliud ftyli genus," (fays Bacon,)" totum in eo eft, "ut verba fint aculeata, fententiæ concifæ, oratio "denique potius verfa quam fufa, quo fit, ut omnia, per hujufmodi artificium, magis ingeniofa videantur quam re vera fint. Tale invenitur in Seneca ef"fufius, in Tacito et Plinio fecundo moderatius."

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The deranged collocation of the words in Latin compofition, aids powerfully the impofition we have now been confidering, and renders that language an inconvenient medium of philofophical communication; as well as an inconvenient inftrument of accurate thought. Indeed, in all languages in which this latitude in the arrangement of words is admitted, the affsociations among words must be loofer, than where one invariable order is followed; and of confequence, on the principles of Hume and Campbell, the miftakes which are committed in reafonings expreffed in fuch languages, will not be fo readily detected.

The errors in reasoning, to which we are exposed in confequence of the ufe of words as an inftrument of thought, will appear the less surprising, when we con

fider that all the languages which have hitherto existed in the world, have derived their origin from popular use; and that their application to philofophical purposes, was altogether out of the view of those men who first employed them. Whether it might not be poffible to invent a language, which would at once facilitate philofophical communication, and form a more convenient inftrument of reasoning and of invention, than thofe we poffefs at prefent, is a question of very difficult difcuffion; and upon which I fhall not presume to offer an opinion. The failure Lecce of Wilkins's very ingenious attempt towards a real character, and a philofophical language, is not perhaps decifive against fuch a project; for, not to mention fome radical defects in his plan, the views of that very eminent philofopher do not seem to have extended much farther than to promote and extend the literary intercourfe among different nations. Leibnitz, fo far as I know, is the only author who has hitherto conceived the poflibility of aiding the powers of invention and of reasoning, by the use of a more convenient inftrument of thought; but he has no where explained his ideas on this very interesting fubject. It is only from a converfation of his with Mr. Boyle and Mr. Oldenburgh, when he was in England in 1673, and from fome imperfect hints in different parts of his works, that we find it had engaged his attention. In the course of this converfation he obferved, that Wilkins had mistaken the true end of a real character, which was not merely to enable different nations to correfpond cafily together, but

* See Note [L],

ta

to affift the reafon, the invention, and the memory. In his writings, too, he fomewhere fpeaks of an alphabet of human thoughts, which he had been employed in forming, and which, probably, (as Fontenelle has remarked,) had fome relation to his univerfal language *.

The new nomenclature which has been introduced into chymistry, feems to me to furnish à ftriking illuftration of the effect of appropriated and welldefined expreffions, in aiding the intellectual powers; and the period is probably not far diftant, when fimilar innovations will be attempted in fome of the other fciences. tommy.

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*M. Leibnitz avoit conçu le projet d'une langue philofophique et univerfelle. Wilkins Evêque de Chefter, et Dalgarno y "avoient travaillé; mais dès le tems qu'il etoit en Angleterre, il "avoit dit à Méflieurs Boyle et d' Oldenbourg qu'il ne croyoit pas que ces grands hommes euffent encore frappé au but. Ils pouvoient bien faire que des nations qui ne s'entendoient pas "euffent aifément commerce, mais ils n'avoient pas attrappé les "véritables caractères réels, qui étoient l'inftrument le plus fin "dont l'efprit humain fe pût fervir, et qui devoient extrêmement "faciliter et le raifonnement, et la memoire, et l'invention des "chofes. Ils devoient reffembler, autant qu'il étoit poffible, aux "caractères d'algebre, qui en effet font très fimples, et très ex"preffifs, qui n'ont jamais ni fuperfluité, ni équivoque, et dont "toutes les varietés font raifonnées. Il a parlé en quelque endroit, "d'un alphabet des penfées humaines, qu'il meditoit. Selon "toutes les apparences, cet alphabet avoit rapport à fa langue

univerfelle." Eloge de M. LEIBNITZ par M. de FONTENELLE.